January 5, 1981 (Monday)
- Battle of Dezful (Iran–Iraq War): For the first time since Iraq had invaded its territory in September, Iran launched a counterattack, concentrating its armies at Sousangerd. After 18 months, Iraqi forces had been driven out of Iran, which then began a drive toward capturing Iraqi territory. The war would continue until 1988.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first TV adaptation of the Douglas Adams book, debuted on BBC Two.
- Born: Deadmau5, Canadian DJ/Producer, as Joel Zimmerman in Niagara Falls, Ontario
- Died: Harold C. Urey, 87, American chemist who discovered the isotope deuterium, 1934 Nobel Prize laureate; Sir James Martin, 87, British engineer and inventor of ejection seat; and Lanza del Vasto, 79, philosopher, poet, and activist
Read more about this topic: January 1981
Famous quotes containing the word january:
“and you undid the reins
and I undid the buttons,
the bones, the confusions,
The New England postcards,
the January ten o’clock night,
and we rose up like wheat....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)